Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The weekend started with pouring rain and a sleep in. Two things that sound so good in a sentence. After sitting around deciding what to do, S and I decided to head to the city to take advantage of the sales and perhaps buy someone's Birthday present. We found a good sale on Levi's and since S doesn't have to wear a suit to work, we got a couple of pairs of those for him, before heading over to the women's section to see what we could find.

Happily, we found exactly what I wanted but that will be saved for another day. I was told to 'forget about your gift until your Birthday' and that's just what I've done. We got home and it was clear out so we took Ted out for a walk since he was playing his little 'I want to go for a walk game'. He hits me with his paw then runs to the front door and repeats until he gets what he wants. He isn't spoilt at all.

Saturday evening we headed back in to the city and went to Ichiban Boshi for dinner after a suggestion was made on twitter. What a great suggestion that was, too! It is no secret that I love Japanese food and Ichiban Boshi did not let us down. Afterwards, we headed to Grandma's Bar and met with some lovely friends for cocktails. I liked the layout of Grandma's but thought it was a bit small and cramped.

I chose a rhubarb cocktail and was sipping on that when I saw someone ordering a cocktail that was on fire at the bar. Being a sucker for fire-lit cocktails, S went to order me my very own. What a gem he is.

Sunday was rather uneventful. A little Uni work, a bit of house work.. the usual domestic duties. I also went to the Addams Family musical with the group I volunteer with. I had a lot of fun, but I didn't love the show. I don't really love musicals though, I guess.

Friday, April 19, 2013

I am very behind in my 365 project and have skipped a week, but here is Week 7 ( I will go back to Week 6 soon). I've been really slack/busy and so some of these photos are pretty crappy, but I've tried to make more of an effort to get out and take pictures every day. This week is going well!

Monday 25th March 2013

Exploring the neighbourhood

Tuesday 26th March 2013

Flight path

Wednesday 27th March 2013

Sleep Ted

Thursday 28th March 2013

City Ted

Friday 29th March 2013

Easter treats

Saturday 30th March 2013

I couldn't choose one. I love these pics. S took themSunday 31st March 2013

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I read this on a blog recently and tried to find the original article to no avail. I thought the list was something everyone could read as we are all guilty of at least one of these points.

1. Stop placing all the blame on other people for how they interact with you. To an extent, people treat you the way you want to be treated. A lot of social behavior is cause and effect. Take responsibility for (accept) the fact that you are the only constant variable in your equation.

2. Stop being lazy by being constantly “busy.” It’s easy to be busy. It justifies never having enough time to clean, cook for yourself, go out with friends, meet new people. Realize that every time you give in to your ‘busyness,’ it’s you who’s making the decision, not the demands of your job.

3. Stop seeking out distractions. You will always be able to find them.

4. Stop trying to get away with work that’s “good enough.” People notice when “good enough” is how you approach your job. Usually these people will be the same who have the power to promote you, offer you a health insurance plan, and give you more money. They will take your approach into consideration when thinking about you for a raise.

5. Stop allowing yourself to be so comfortable all the time. Coming up with a list of reasons to procrastinate risky, innovative decisions offers more short-term gratification than not procrastinating. But when you stop procrastinating to make a drastic change, your list of reasons to procrastinate becomes a list of ideas about how to better navigate the risk you’re taking.

6. Stop identifying yourself as a cliche and start treating yourself as an individual. Constantly checking your life against a prewritten narrative or story of how things “should” be is a bought-into way of life. It’s sort of like renting your identity. It isn’t you. You are more nuanced than the narrative you try to fit yourself into, more complex than the story that “should” be happening.

7. Stop expecting people to be better than they were in high school — learn how to deal with it instead. Just because you’re out of high school doesn’t mean you’re out of high school. There will always be people in your life who want what you have, are threatened by who you are, and will ridicule you for doing something that threatens how they see their position in the world.

8. Stop being stingy. If you really care about something, spend your money on it. There is often a notion that you are saving for something. Either clarify what that thing is or start spending your money on things that are important to you. Spend money on road trips. Spend money on healthy food. Spend money on opportunities. Spend money on things you’ll keep.

9. Stop treating errands as burdens. Instead, use them as time to focus on doing one thing, and doing it right. Errands and chores are essentially rote tasks that allow you time to think. They function to get you away from your phone, the internet, and other distractions. Focus and attention span are difficult things to maintain when you’re focused and attentive on X amount of things at any given moment.

10. Stop blaming yourself for being human. You’re fine. Having a little anxiety is fine. Being scared is fine. Your secrets are fine. You’re well-meaning. You’re intelligent. You’re blowing it out of proportion. You’re fine.

11. Stop ignoring the fact that other people have unique perspectives and positions. Start approaching people more thoughtfully. People will appreciate you for deliberately trying to conceive their own perspective and position in the world. It not only creates a basis for empathy and respect, it also primes people to be more open and generous with you.

12. Stop seeking approval so hard. Approach people with the belief that you’re a good person. It’s normal to want the people around you to like you. But it becomes a self-imposed burden when almost all your behavior toward certain people is designed to constantly reassure you of their approval.

13. Stop considering the same things you’ve always done as the only options there are. It’s unlikely that one of the things you’ll regret when you’re older is not having consumed enough beer in your 20s, or not having bought enough $5 lattes, or not having gone out to brunch enough times, or not having spent enough time on the internet. Fear of missing out is a real, toxic thing. You’ve figured out drinking and going out. You’ve experimented enough. You’ve gotten your fill of internet memes. Figure something else out.

14. Stop rejecting the potential to feel pain. Suffering is a universal constant for sentient beings. It is not unnatural to suffer. Being in a constant state of suffering is bad. But it is often hard to appreciate happiness when there’s nothing to compare it to. Rejecting the potential to suffer is unsustainable and unrealistic.

15. Stop approaching adverse situations with anger and frustration. You will always deal with people who want things that seem counter to your interests. There will always be people who threaten to prevent you from getting what you want by trying to get what they want. This is naturally frustrating. Realize that the person you’re dealing with is in the same position as you — by seeking out your own interests, you threaten to thwart theirs. It isn’t personal — you’re both just focused on getting different things that happen to seem mutually exclusive. Approach situations like these with reason. Be calm. Don’t start off mad, it’ll only make things more tense.

16. Stop meeting anger with anger. People will make you mad. Your reaction to this might be to try and make them mad. This is something of a first-order reaction. That is, it isn’t very thoughtful — it may be the first thing you’re inclined to do. Try to suppress this reaction. Be thoughtful. Imagine your response said aloud before you say it. If you don’t have to respond immediately, don’t.

17. Stop agreeing to do things that you know you’ll never actually do. It doesn’t help anyone. To a certain extent, it’s a social norm to be granted a ‘free pass’ when you don’t do something for someone that you said you were going to do. People notice when you don’t follow through, though, especially if it’s above 50% of the time.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

There is a sense of peace when the sun is setting and specks of lingering gold sunshine are splashed across the nature around you. I took these photos last month when we were on our way home from Canberra and whilst my composition isn't great, I really love the lighting and hues of gold. Something about that time of day sends shoots of calm through me and even though we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us, I felt like I had all the time in the world just to hang out in nature. Unfortunately for me, the sun had other plans and was set before I could really shoot anything too interesting. Oh well, another time.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Soaking up the last of the beautiful weather was what the past weekend was all about. On Saturday K, T and I headed to Paddington markets for a browse and were pleasantly surprised with the spread of goods available. Whilst none of us bought anything, I have a few things in mind that I'd like to go back for. I also noticed an abundance of kiddy clothing and made a mental note of where to buy goods when the time comes that I am popping out little ones. As you can see, there are no photos of the markets because silly me forgot I had the camera until lunch time.

Pulled Pork, mojo, picon, tortillas $16

That's right, I remembered the camera was sitting in my handbag as soon as my food was brought out. After I told the girls not to eat until I'd taken photos, the camera was put back in to the bag and the food was eaten. Paddington Inn has a great menu and the food is very reasonably priced. I chose the pulled pork share plate and ate it all myself. In hindsight, I would agree with Paddington Inn; it is indeed a share plate. Whilst it was not a huge meal, it was a heavy one and if I had shared it I would not have felt as heavy as I did after I finished it. Oh well, lesson learnt. No lunch is a good one without some sangria and Paddington Inn did not disappoint. White wine sangria for $15 a jug? Yes please!

The rest of the weekend was somewhat uneventful. I gardened (in the process re-injuring a muscle that I hurt 2 years!!!! ago) and did some uni work. Fun, I know.A blog post is not a blog post without a picture or three of Teddy.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

I had gone through a period of not reading anything because I couldn’t decide what to read next. I decided I wanted to read a memoir type book, so I typed that in to the kindle book store and Memoirs of an Addict was one of the first on the list. I read the blurb and liked what I saw, so downloaded the sample before I just purchased the book (it was only $2 from memory). I thought the book was an actual memoir about an addict, but it is not.

From the start to finish of this book, I was absolutely drawn in. I spent my bus rides to and from work and more time at home reading the book and was done in a matter of days.

Although Marni Mann has never experienced addiction (at least I don't think so - based on my research of her), her descriptions and the way she articulates the scenes in this book make you think she was the person the story was written about. It is so evident just how much research was done in the way she portrays her characters and addiction.

The story is told in first person by the main character, Nicole Brown. It is her story of moving to a new place, addiction, loss and the way her life changes. Once a girl on the straight and narrow, Nicole loses her way and the story is very intricate in describing her new life. She is a character that you love and hate.

I highly recommend this book. It was one of those books that you read and will remember for a long time.

As I said, if you aren’t in to graphic scenes in novels or don’t like reading about drug addiction etc, then this book is not for you. It does not hold back and the descriptions are sometimes very confronting and intense.

If you are on goodreads, I have recently signed up and my name is Rhiannon. I don't really know how to use it yet, but I will learn - I'm sure.

Have you read this book or anything similar? I would love some book recommendations for similar books!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I don’t have too much to report by way of weekend happenings as S and I were supposed to spend the whole weekend catching up on Uni/CA work. Instead, Saturday was spent being lazy and traipsing through Broadway to find dumbbells. We didn’t find dumbbells but we did find this cute beanie that S tried to get me to buy for our next ski trip. Too bad my head isn’t size 1-2 otherwise that beanie would have been mine.

We also decided we wanted some new sheets and bedcovers so walked around Broadway looking. Our efforts were futile so we did the groceries and called it a day.

Sunday was another lazy day spent around the house. In the evening however, we dressed up to go and see Arvo Pärt at the Opera House. I was very surprised to see that most people were in their Sunday casual – dressed in t-shirts etc. If there is one place a person should dress up, I think it should be the Opera. After all, there are not many places one can get dolled up for these days.

The show was absolutely amazing and I was drawn in the whole time. Since I had never been to a Symphony before, I was not too sure what to expect and whether I would like it or not. The musicians are all so talented and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Of course, a trip in to the city is not complete without an obligatory city picture.

Blurry iPhone photo...tsk tsk

How was your weekend? Have you ever been to see a show at the Opera House?

Monday, April 8, 2013

K and I decided to head to the Easter Show on Easter Monday since neither of us had been in about 4 years.

Our first stop was World Bazaar and after seeing what the highest chilli rating we could handle was, we were on our way with everyone else and their prams to see the animals.

FYI - the chilli was rating 10 and left our mouths on fire for the next half hour.

An inquisitive little fellow﻿

If that many people were looking at me, I'd play 'sleep' too

Cannot resist ducklings

Cute!

This little one was pretty keen on the food we had to offer. $1 for a cup of food and an hour of entertainment feeding the animals was a definite highlight.

Not all food at the show is unhealthy...even if it is covered in butter.

A lot of people complain about how expensive the show is which might be true if you have children and have to buy 10 showbags. $37 for an adult (that includes transport) to me is not too much considering how much there is to see in the way of animals and shows.

I did end up buying some wine and lollies too, but I am pretty sure a trip to the show is not complete without some form of sugar.

We skipped on the rides as we didn't even make it to that part of the show before 6pm and by then we were both ready to call it a day and head home to bed. We did however, manage to fit in an hour or two of woodchop viewing and I loved it. I don't think I've ever seen it before. Definitely one of the highlights!